Our Love Can Make Miracles
by LannisterGold
Summary: She is a rich girl from the city, headstrong and fiery. He's a poor boy from the country who puts his heart into everything he does. Love finds them, but they must struggle to hold on to it. A loose retelling of 'The Notebook' by Nicholas Sparks.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Julie Plec, Kevin Williamson, and L.J. Smith own the Vampire Diaries. Nicholas Sparks owns The Notebook. I don't own anything but a couple a daydreams and the occasional brilliant idea.**

_Prologue_

He doesn't know what he expected would greet him when he appeared on that doorstep, _his own doorstep_, but a furious Elena Gilbert-Salvatore was not it. "You shouldn't have left," she whispers heatedly, and he wonders if she is worried that the others will hear her. "She's only gotten worse since you left. We had to lock her in her room so she won't hurt herself.

That cuts him deeper than anything else could have, and his eyes turn on the man standing beyond her, trying to avoid Elena's burning gaze. "I had to go," he answers quietly, more to himself than anyone else. He clutches the little ragged book and closes his eyes for a moment. "I had to go get it, Elena. You have to understand." The words sound empty and hopeless, even to his own ears, and Elena's eyes soften.

"I don't understand. My best friend is _dying._ I don't understand anything." She sighs, and she steps out of the doorway. He quickly walked inside, nodding to Damon as he passes him. He looks around the house, taking in the familiar rooms that seem so dark without her.

"Is she going to die?"

The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them, and he almost immediately regrets them. Damon looks away pointedly, and Elena glares at him. "Don't you think that she can hear you?" she hisses, and he can't miss the tears shining in her eyes. "We've tried _everything._ No one knows how to help her, not even the other witches. If I ever get my hands on that crazy bitch again, I'll rip her apart, I swear. I'm not going to let her get away with this."

He watches as the mild-mannered brunette loses her temper, and he can't help but agree. His lip curls in distaste as he thinks about the redheaded witch again, a bitter taste filling his mouth. He hates her. Not for trying to kill him. No, he can't blame her for that. But bringing his wife into this was unforgivable, and he wouldn't rest until she had paid for it.

Except for now. Now, he would rest and be with the one he loved when she needed him most. He wouldn't leave her again. "How far along has the disease progressed?" he asks, brisk tone painfully loud in the tension-filled air. He wonders if she can hear him, but he answers the question for himself. Of course she can. She's a vampire after all.

Damon shakes his head slowly, and he can see the pain in the dark-haired vampire's eyes. "She's thirsty all the time, but she throws up any blood we try to feed her. Her temperature's too high, but she says that she's freezing. She..." He sighs, trailing off..

"What?" he asks sharply, desperately. "She _what, _Damon?"

"She didn't recognize either of us this morning." Elena's voice is quiet, almost a murmur. "She doesn't know where she is, and she keeps asking us to take her home. There's a chance that she won't know you when you go in there."

He swallows back the lump in his throat. He had expected this, but not so soon. He isn't ready to lose her yet. It's all happening too quickly, and he can't take it. "I need to see her," he says, and he grits his teeth when he voice breaks. "It's urgent."

Elena nods. "She's in the blue room. Come on, I'll take you to her." She moves away from her husband and walks down the hall, motioning for him to follow.

Despite himself, he growls. It's _his_ house, dammit. He won't let her treat him like some concerned stranger who decided to stop by. He glances over to Damon, who shakes his head slightly. _Don't argue with it, _his friend's expression said. _Elena knows what she's doing. Just go._ He can feel the fear gnawing at him, and his knuckles are white as he tightens his grip on the book and follows.

_There's the window she broke when we got into a fight. She was throwing something at my head while I walked out. There's that ridiculous couch she bought back in the '60s. There's the gardenias she planted three years ago. I told her that they would never grow, and I think she tried that much harder just so it would prove me wrong. _The memories leap unbidden to his mind as he catches glimpses of the other rooms. Vivid recollections resurface, all her odd little quirks, like the way she liked to watch the sun rise from that particular rocking chair. He remembers the fights over the decades, screaming and declarations of hatred that always led back to the bedroom. He remembers how she laughed, the way the sunlight looked in her hair, the way she would smile when she was trying so hard not to cry. He remembers, and it breaks his heart.

Elena leads him all the way to the back of the house. The room awaiting them is the last one on the left, and the door is closed. The brunette turns to him, looking him straight in the eye. "I know how you feel," she says. "I don't know what I would do if I lost Damon, and you two have been together for almost one hundred years now. Maybe...maybe it's just time to say goodbye."

It's all he can do to shake his head. "No," he says, voice rough, "not yet. I won't give up on her, Elena." He hesitates with his next question. "I really appreciate all that you and Damon have done, but...I'd like to be alone with her for a while. Do you think you two could leave for a few hours?"

She nods, understanding. "Of course. We'll head up to Richmond to see Kat and Stefan. Take as long as you need with her. We'll be back around nine." She opens the door and walks inside. He follows quickly, shutting the door behind them.

She had always wanted to be a princess when she was younger, and now she looks the part. Sleeping Beauty resting peacefully for all eternity, beautiful and pale. Snow White waiting for her prince to come and awaken her with true love's kiss. But he isn't Prince Charming, just a knight in silver armor so tarnished it no longer shines. Everyone lives happily ever after in fairy tales, but he knows this isn't a fairy tale because how could he be happy when she is gone. She may be a princess, but this isn't a story with a happy ending, because Caroline Forbes is dying.

"Hi, Caroline," Elena greets softly, and the blonde stirs, opening her dark, hungry eyes. She immediately tenses, but Elena presses on. "Do you remember me?" the brunette asks.

"Yes," Caroline replied, never once taking her eyes off of him. "Who's this?" She nods to him, and he considers dying right then and there when he sees the confusion and fear in her expression. The sunlight shines down on her like a halo, and he stares at her, ravenously devoting every bit of it to memory.

"This is a good friend of mine," Elena answers calmly. "He's going to sit with you while Damon and I go out. Is that okay?"

Caroline looks him over again and nods hesitantly. "I guess so." They both watch as Elena smiles, evidently relieved, and leaves. The door clicks shut, and her eyes snap back to him as she pulls closer one of the many blankets surrounding her.

"I thought I'd read to you for a little while, just to pass the time," he says, trying to keep his voice calm and level. He notices her eyes light up, and he smiles slightly.

"What are you going to read?" she asks curiously, moving a bit closer to see the book in his hand.

"A true story," he replies, walking over to the bed and taking a seat in the chair beside it. "A story about two people who fall in love and do a lot of stupid things that almost ruin them forever." He runs his hand over the cover of the notebook. It is ancient, close to falling to pieces. The cover was a plain dark brown, stained darker by age and the elements. He opens it to the first page. The carefully printed words have faded slightly, but it's still legible. He's read it at least a thousand times, knows every word by heart, but it's never enough.

Caroline is transfixed, her earlier suspicion gone. "What happens to them?" she asks, pushing herself up to a sitting position. He doesn't miss the soft whimper of pain or her hands' trembling. He decides not to comment on it. _If she's anything like my Caroline, she'll deny it_, he thinks with a slight smile.

"Well, you'll just have to see," he replies. "Are you comfortable? It's a long story, and I can't stop once I've started."

She nods, finally leaning back down into the pillows with a sigh of defeat. "Yes, I'm fine. Can we just start the story now?"

He chuckles slightly. "Of course." He clears his throat and looks down at the first page, thumb rubbing over the familiar handwriting.

"The first night they met was the carnival in Mystic Falls. It was June, 1940, and Caroline Forbes was 17."

** I honestly have no idea what this is. The plot bunny hit me like a ton of bricks, and this was the result. The story will follow the basic storyline of The Notebook, with some added subplots and changes. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd love to know what you thought. Review please!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the favorites, alerts, and especially those three lovely reviews! I noticed that many people were wondering who is the Noah character in this story, and I'm afraid that I can't tell you just yet. He won't be revealed until much later into the story. Enjoy this new chapter!**

_Chapter One_

"How did you talk me into this again?"

Damon Salvatore shot his friend a glare, blue eyes narrowed stubbornly. "You're coming with us. All you've done lately is skulk around that house and work. It's not healthy. I'm giving you an order to have some fun." The devious smile that twisted his lips was one that had charmed most of Mystic Falls' female population. "Anyways, Elena's bringing a friend..." The dark-haired vampire trailing off, raising his eyebrows.

"No way, Damon. I know what you're thinking, and it's not happening." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine, I'll try to have fun tonight."

Damon grinned. "Good." The old truck veered left and came to a stop in the parking lot. The two boys jumped out, smiles crossing both of their faces as they caught sight of the brilliant, chaotic light of the carnival. Distant laughter and shouts filled the air, mingling with the piercing metallic whirring of the rides. Calls of vendors peddling everything from cotton candy to balloons punctuated it all, bringing life to the stifling night air of summertime Virginia.

He smiled despite himself. Maybe this would be fun. He turned as someone whistled to catch his attention. "Are you coming or what?" Damon called, and he nodded with a roll of his eyes. The two walked in through the gates, paying a quarter each for their tickets.

The two men strolled through the large field, stepping between booths and giggling children. He nodded politely to two older women who would have been around his mother's age, suppressing a scowl as one looked away with a haughty huff. Sometimes he forgot that he was just another one of the poor boys barely making a living down at the lumberyard, but the rest of the world was always quick to remind him. "Ignore the snobby old birds," Damon advised quietly, following his line of sight. "They treat everybody that way."

He nodded slightly. "Yeah, I know," he said absentmindedly. He looked over in surprise as Damon punched him in the shoulder. "What was that for?"

"You're moping again," Damon accused, eyes narrowed. "You agreed to have fun tonight, remember? Don't let a few stuck-up bitches mess with your head. Now, come on. We've got to go meet Elena." He chuckled quietly. "Try to smile, okay? You're scaring the kids."

He laughed despite himself. "Remind me why I like you again. I can't remember."

The blue-eyed man laughed. "Because I'm amazing. Now let's go have some fun before Little Miss Proper comes to crash the party." Damon rolled his eyes, but he was grinning at the prospect of seeing his girl as he walked out to the middle of the fairgrounds, and his friend had no choice but to roll his eyes and follow.

Damon walked over to the high-striker, eying it critically. "You figure this thing is rigged?" he asked. "You try it out first, just in case."

He nodded, walking up and picking up the sledgehammer. He waited a moment, weighing the hammer in his hand, before smashing it down on the plate. The little weight shot upwards and hit the bell with a resounding clang. He turned after waving off the man trying to have him a surprise and looked at Damon.

The dark-haired man looked impressed. "Well, damn. If you can do it, I definitely can. Move over. The Salvatore jokingly shoved his friend out of the way and took the sledgehammer, slamming it down onto the plate. The weight barely made it halfway up the wire before plummeting back down.

"_What?_" Damon shouted, indignant. "I hit just as hard as he did." The vampire scowled as he took the small stuffed bear from the man running the game, and he tried to ignore his friend's laughter. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, "go ahead and laugh. All those games are fixed anyways." Damon glared when this only made him laugh harder. "Shut up."

"Damon!" a voice called, and both men looked up to see a long-legged brunette racing towards them. Damon's eyes lit up, and he held out his arms. The girl hurled herself into them, laughing. "We've been looking for you everywhere," she said, smiling.

"Just got here, babe," her boyfriend answered. "Where's Katherine? I thought she was coming, too." He wrapped his arms around the brunette's waist.

"Change of plans," Elena told Damon before turning to look at his friend. "She's down on the river with your roommate. When did that happen?" She fixed him with a curious dark brown stare, and he found himself at a loss for words as Damon also looked at him.

"Not sure," he finally answered. "She just started coming around the house last week to talk to Elijah. Something about an article in the paper." Despite the fact that he was happy for his roommate, he still felt a prickling of unease as he thought of Elena Gilbert's wild twin sister. Katherine Gilbert had lovers in five different counties, a real Scarlett O'Hara. He didn't know what he would do if she broke Elijah's heart. The man was kind, kind enough to let him rent out half of the old house, and he deserved better than that.

Elena rolled her eyes. "Kat never touches the paper. I'd say she was more interested in a certain reporter." She smiled. "Well, good for them. All we need to do now is get you and Stefan fixed up with a girl."

Damon laughed. "Good luck with that. The only thing that Saint Stefan's interested in is studying for his degree. He likes books more than girls."

"Well, we'll never had to worry about you having that problem, Damon," he said wryly. He smiled slightly as Elena laughed and Damon shot him a dark look that poorly hid his own amusement. He looked over to see a group of people approaching, three or four local boys swarming around a girl he didn't recognize.

She was a little blonde thing, walking arm in arm with Trevor. She turned to look at one of the other boys, and he caught a glimpse of eyes green as ocean waves. "Caroline Forbes," Damon said, startling him out of his reverie. He turned to see the dark-haired man smirking. "She came with Elena. She's here for the summer with her family, and her daddy's got more money than God." The older Salvatore turned to shake hands with a few of the other guys, the amiable chatter fading off into the background as he rolled the name around in his mind. _Caroline Forbes. _He glanced over again to see her talking with Duke and Trevor. You didn't find a pair of green eyes like that very often. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he walked over to the girl.

"You wanna dance with me?" he asked. Not introduction, no small talk, no "hi-how-are-you-isn't-the-weather-lovely" to worry about. Just the question on his mind. He stood before her, hands in his pockets as he waited for an answer. He ignored Trevor's disgruntled glare.

Caroline looked surprised for a moment. "Um, not really," she answered with a slight laugh.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't _want_ to." Irritation had crept into her tone, and he never faltered once. She glanced up at Trevor, who narrowed his eyes and stepped forward.

"She's with us." The scrawny man puffed his chest out, and the effect only increased the ridiculousness of his words. He rolled his eyes, and glancing down at Caroline one more time, walked back over to Damon and Slater.

"Come on, Caroline," he could easily hear Trevor say. "You wanna ride the Ferris Wheel?" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her nod after a moment of thought, and he smiled.

"That's the guy I told you about," Elena said, and Caroline jumped. The brunette didn't so much as bat an eyelash at her friend's surprise. "He works with Damon down at the lumberyard." Elena was smiling.

"Did you see how close he was standing?" Caroline asked incredulously, sweeping a lock of curly blonde hair out of her face. "He was like two inches away from my face. I mean, who does that?" Her eyes wandered back over to the man in question.

Elena shrugged. "That's just him." She grinned mischievously, and the resemblance to Katherine was uncanny even for twins. "You know, I'm surprised he even came over to say something. I think he likes you."

Caroline shot her a look as Trevor called her again. "Come on!" She hurried to catch up with him, sitting down beside the boy in the dangling car of the Ferris Wheel. The operator, an older man with startling blue eyes, looked the car over and took Trevor's money. "Thanks, John," the younger man said.

The man, John, nodded and pulled the lever, sending her and Trevor up into the air.

He looked over when the Ferris Wheel started up again. He could see the two of them in one of the red compartments on the way down. Trevor was grinning with cotton candy in one hand and Caroline's hand in the other. The Forbes girl looked less enthused than he did. He chuckled quietly, walking right up to the front of the Ferris Wheel. "Evening, John," he said easily. The man nodded, too focused to look up and bother with seeing who it was.

He waited until their car had come as low as it would go before running up and jumping in with them. Trevor's started swearing was sharply punctuated by Caroline's shout. He settled down in between the two, holding out his hand for Caroline to shake. "I don't believe I introduced myself."

Caroline looked torn between shock and anger. "I know who you are."

He smiled. "Well, it's just really good to meet you then."

"What the hell do you think you're doing, boy?" John's yelled from down on the ground. He could see Damon and Elena watching, Damon laughing harder than he'd ever seen. Others were watching too, their expression too hard for him to make out.

"I'll pay you when I get down, John."

"Caroline, who is this guy?" Trevor interrupted angrily, more confused than anything else.

"I don't know," she exclaimed, cheeks flushed.

"I would really like to take you out one night," he continued without missing the beat. The disbelieving expression on Caroline's face would have made him laugh at any other time, but he needed an answer first.

John stopped the Ferris Wheel abruptly, jerking the cars forward. "You can't sit more than two people at a time!" he shouted.

"Alright John," he said calmly with a roll of his eyes. He stood back up and grabbed onto the bar directly in front of the car, hanging on to it as he twisted to face Caroline and Trevor.

"Get down before you kill yourself, you idiot!" Elena yelled at him, shooting Damon a dirty look as he kept laughing.

"Will you go?" he asked, perfectly calm as he dangled close to fifty feet off the ground.

"What? No. No!" Caroline glared at him. "Are you crazy?"

He shrugged. "Why not?"

"Hey, pal, she just told you no," Trevor said forcefully.

"Why not?" he repeated. He could do this all night if he had to.

"I don't know? Because I don't want to?" Caroline sounded angry now, face pale as her eyes kept flickering up to his hands.

He shrugged again. "Well, you leave me no other choice." He let go of the bar with one hand, struggling to hold on with the other. Elena and Caroline both screamed. "I'll ask you one more time," he said, ignoring the yelling of the others telling him to stop fooling around. "Will you go out with me?" He winced as the bar slipped painfully against his skin. "God damn, my hand's slipping."

"Then grab the bar, you idiot!" Elena snarled from the ground.

"Not until she agrees," he called back.

Damon had finally stopped laughing, although he looked no less amused. "Just go out with him, honey!"

"Okay, okay, fine! I'll go out with you!" Caroline seemed genuinely stressed as she answered, her eyes glued to his hand.

"Don't do me any favors," he said, knuckles white as he held onto the bar for dear life.

"No, I want to!" she exclaimed.

"Say it."

"I wanna go out with you."

"Say it again," he said, grinning.

"I want to go out with you!" she yelled. "Not put your damn hand back on the bar!"

"Alright, if you insist," he chuckled, grabbing the bar with both hands. "I guess we'll go out." He shrugged nonchalantly, feeling the tiniest bit smug.

Her eyes glinted dangerously as she laughed. "Oh, you think you're so smart, don't you?"

"You idiot, that wasn't funny!" Elena shouted.

Caroline leaned to the side to see her friend. "No, don't worry. I've got this." Smirking mischievously, she reached towards him and began unbuttoning his pants.

"What are you doing?" he asked, voice edged with suspicion as he helplessly watched her. "No, no, no." He heard her giggle as she pushed his pants down to his ankles, leaving his underwear on full display to anyone on the fairgrounds. "Dear God," he muttered under his breath. Somewhere, Damon Salvatore was roaring with laughter.

"I'm gonna get you back for this," he told her.

She shrugged, still giggling. "Maybe you will, maybe you won't."

His eyes lit up. That sounded like a challenge to him. As he waited for John to slowly lower their car down to the ground, he was struck again by just how beautiful this girl was. _Challenge accepted._

**I'm actually really happy with how this chapter turned out, which is odd for me. I'd love to know what you thought of it too, though. Was it good? Was is terrible? Have you already figured out who the characters are? Reviews are the bourbon to my Alaric!**


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